Barn-door-operating device



l. F. LINDBERG.

BARN DOOR OPERATING DEVICE.

APPLICATION FILED MAYII. I9Ia.

11 N FU/3 17 0l /g C JOHN F. LINDBERG, OF HIBBING, MINNESOTA.

BARN-DOOR-OPERATING DEVICE.

Specication of Letters Patent. Patented Apr. 2'?, -l1920.

Appiicauonmed May 17, 191s. serial No. 235,113.

To all whom t may concern Be it known that I, J oHN F. LINDBERG, a citizen of the United States, residing at Hibbing, in the county of St. Louis and State of Minnesota, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Barn-Door-Operating Devices; and I do herebyjdeclare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to4 which it appertains to make and use the same.

This invention has for its object to provide a door operating device adapted particularly for use on pairs of hinged doors of barns, garages and the like, which are adapted to be swung open to permit a vehicle to enter or pass out and which, in closing, require that the pair of oppositely swinging doors shall be closed so as to overlap properly to permit locking thereof, and which further acts when the doors are in open position to lock them firmly in that position against accidental closure by wind or other causes, thus preventing collisions between the vehicles and the doors, and rendering the opening and closing of such doors .very easy and convenient.

The invention consists in the features of construction and combinations of parts hereinafter fully described and claimed.

In the accompanying drawings illustrating the preferred embodiment of the invention:

Figure -1- is a fragmentary view in elevation of a pair of hinged barn or garage doors equipped with a device constructed in accordance with my invention, said doors being viewed from the interior of the structure.

Fig. -2- is a top plan view of the doors and a plan section through the door frames at either side thereof showing my said operating device in plan.

Fig. --3 is a view similar to Fig. -2- showing the doors in open position.

Fig. --4 lis a detail section on the line 4 4 of Fig. -5-.

Fig. 5 is a fragamentary detail plan section on the line 5--5 of Fig. ll-

Swinging doors are most commonly used on barns or garages for the reason that 1n the majority of instances sliding doors are not capable of being used because of lack of space. The size of the door-opening to permit the passage of an automobile or other vehicle also necessitates using a pair of doors hingedto opposite sides of the door frame, and overlapping each other at their middle portions when closed. Said doors usually swing outwardly from the door frame and thus become exposed to the wind which obviously will swing one door to open and the other door to closed position, as a rule, unless the same is held securely in a fixed position. This has necessitated the use of some latching means such as a hook and staple and a fixed part relatively to the ground or building to which one of the latch members was secured, whereby either or both doors might be latched in open position, and thus remain fixed during the period of egress or entrance of the vehicle from and into the building.

The object of my device is primarily to provide means for automatically latching the doors in their open positions/so that they will retain those positions against the action of wind and, in addition to. accomplishing this object, my said device is adapted and intended to automatically effect swinging of the doors so that the outer overlapping door will be initially swung toward its open position before any movement is imparted to the other or companion door, and in which,

lupon closing, the last-named -or inner door will be first swung to closed position and the 'outer overlapping door thereafter swung to its final closing position so as to prevent improper relative positioning of the doors when closed, which would necessitate partially` re-opening the same to effect proper overlap of the meeting edges thereof.

To this end each of the doors A and `B, which overlap at the point C at ltheir `meeting edges, and which are secured by means of hinges D to the door frame, is provided on its inner face with a triangular frame E and F respectively. The frame E differs from the frame F in that it is in the form of an obtuse angled triangle, whereas the frame F presents a substantially right-angled triangle. A rod G is 'pivotally secured contiguous to one en d to the outermost end portion of the frame E and to the innermost corner of the frame F. The said rod Gr is preferably rendered adjustable in length by any suitable means, such as threading an extension member H in one end thereof. The latter constituting a part of the rod G, is pivotally connected with the frame E, and

terminates in an extension portion I, the eX- mally maintain the doors A and B in open position.

The said frames E and F are so arran ed that the portions of the same constituting what may be termed the hypotenuses thereof oppose each other, and when the doors are swung to open position the latch-member J is caused to projectthrolgh an opening in that leg of the frame which extends outwardly from the inner face of the door. Mounted on the face of said leg opposing the hypotenuse portion of said frame is a sliding companion latch-member L, also equipped with an opening through which the latch member J passes; said member L being adapted to be moved against the action of the spring M connected at one end With the projection N of said member L,

' and at its other end with the leg of the frame E secured to the door by the passage of the member J through the opening in said member L in a well-known manner.

As soon as the head'of the member J has passed through the last-named opening said latch member L will be automatically returned to the position shown in Fig. -5-, thus securing the member I-I and rod G in the position shown in Figs. -3- and -5-. The doors will be thus held rigidly in their open position as shown in Fig. -3-.

It will be observed by reference to Fig. -2- that the door Bl is the outer or overlapping door, and that the rod G is engaged with that door at a point much nearer to the plane of the inner faces of the doors than is the case with the inner door A. Consequently when a slight opening pressure is applied to the door A the latter, in swinging through a very short arc, 'will impart movement through a much longer arc to the door B so as to cause the latter to initially swing farther and faster toward its open position than the door A. After the door B has, however, swung through a predetermined arc the further movement or swinging of the doors A and B to the position shown in Fig. -3- will be substantially uniform so that the door B attains its final open position in advance of the door A. To effect closure of the doors the latch member L is released from engagement with the hook J by means of the crank O at the upper end of a rod P pivotally mounted on the inner face of the door A contiguous to the hinged edge thereof. The lower end of said rod is provided with a projection Q, adapted to be manually grasped to turn said rod and thus primarily effect the release of the latch member L from the member J and thereafter to effect an-inward or closing swing to the door A. By reference to Fig. 3- it will be seen that, in closing, the door A will primarily turn through a short arc before swinging movement is imparted to the door B by the rod G, and that, therefore, the door A vwill attain its substantially closed position prior to the door B so that it will be impossible for the door B to attain a position preventing complete closure of the door A as Would happen if the outer meeting edge portion of the door B becomes disposed in the path of the similar edge portion of the door A.

In effecting a closure of the doors the spring K is placed under tension and when opening the doors said spring serves `to impart opening movement to both thereof so that ordinarily, and except when a relatively strong wind is blowing, it is unnecessary for the operator to do more than release the latch maintaining the doors closed. This latch may be of any ordinary construction and applied in any usual manner to both the doorsA and B and a portion `of the door frame.

It will be seen from the foregoing that my device is very convenient and advantageous, besides being simple, durable and cheap, in that it not only makes the opening of the doors easy and convenient, but also provides means for effecting quick and accurate closure thereof which is very desilable in the event of a rain storm, or the li e.

It Will be noted by reference to Fig. 3 that when the doorslarey fully opened any wind or other pressure on the door B tending to turn the same to closed position will transmit pressure to the door A tending to further move same in opening direction and that such movement could not be imparted to the door A because it would necessitate movement of the latch end of the rod G past the leg of the frame A through which the rojection J extends.

It will a so be noted that by means of my device the doors A and B are opened beyond the position of parallelism so that they flare, this being import-ant in many instances where the doors open upon a sharply curved roadway or on a narrow transverse alley requiring the vehicle to leave the building on a curve. This is due to the fact that the pivotal connection of the door A with said rod is disposed in a vertical plane perpendicular to the inner faceof said door and which approximately intersects the hinge pivot of the same.

While I have shown the preferred embodiment of my invention in the accompanying drawings, it will be understood, of course, that the same may be changed and varied in details of construction as dictated by mechanical skill Without departing from the invention as defined in the appended claims.

I claim as my invention:

1. The combination With a pair of hinged doors, of a connecting bar pivotally sel cured at one end to the inner face of one of said doors, a projection on the inner face of the other door pivotally connected with said bar at the other end portion of the latter, and coacting latch elements carried by said bar and said projection adapted to engage each other as said doors attain their open position to automatically llock the same against closure. v

2. The combination with a pair of hinged doors having overlapping meeting ends, of a b'a-r pivotally secured at one end to the inner face of the door overlapping the other on the opposite face thereof and pivotally connected With the other door at a point spaced from the inner face thereof whereby said bar extends angularly of said doors when closed, the opening movement of the first-named door thereby effecting opening movement of the last-named door and closing movement of the last-named door effecting similar movement of the first-named door and causing the lirst-named door to attain its closed position slightly following the last-named door, andmeans associated With said bar, and one of said doors for automatically latching said doors as they attain their open positions.

3. The combination with a pair of hinged doors having overlapping meeting ends, of means for transmitting movement of one of said doors to the other thereof to cause said doors to open and close in`unison, -said means including devices for effecting partial opening movement of one door prior to the beginning of opening-movement of the other and a partial closing movement of the latter before 'the first-named door begins its closing movement, and latching devices operatively associated With said means for automatically locking said doors in open position.

JOHN F. LIN DBERG. 

